Cloveb-seed



UNITED STATES r rnn r orrrbn.

DAVID S. \VAGENER, OF PENN YA N, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR HULLING AND CLEANING CLOVER-SEED.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,420, dated February 12, 1861.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID S. IVAGENER, of Penn Yan, in the county of Yates and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Hulling and Cleaning Clover-Seed; and I do hereby declare the following to, be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying draw lngs, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, represents a perspective view of the outside of the machine, and Fig. 2, represents a longitudinal vvertical section through the machine, showing its interior organization.

I11 hulling and cleaning clover seed there is an immensity of dust, which is exceedingly ditficult to dispose of, and to separate, and remove from, the seed.

The object of my invention is to concentrate this dust by an exhaust or suction fan, and carry it off from the machine, and if necessary, out of the building, by a very simple and yet very effective arrangement of the several parts of the machine as will be described.

My invention consists, in combining with a clover hulling and cleaning machine a suc tion fan that will concentrate the dust and lighter impurities within the machine, and pass them out through a suitable conductor, to any suitable depository.

Toenable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents an outer case, which incloses the several operating parts of the machine, and this case is provided with such inlet and exit openings as will admit of the introduc tion of the material to be hulled and cleaned, together with the necessary supply of air to concentrate the dust, and to effect a separation of the seed from the chaff, heads, straw, and other impurities, and to allow them to pass off, or out of the machine.

-The interior of this case A, is divided into four compartments, as follows: a hulling chamber B, a conveying chamber C, a separating chamber D, and a fan or suction draft chamber E, these four chambers being however connected by suitable air or draft passages, so as to cause them to act in concert with each other, or each to impart, in

succession, its special oflice, to the material passed through them. There is also another compartment where the riddles are located, and designated by F, where a final screening of the seed from all impurities takes place. This embraces the general characteristics of the machine-its specialties I will now proceed to describe.

At one end of the case A, is arranged the hulling chamber B, in which is placed the hulling or grating cylinder G, whose periphery may be covered with spikes, or other roughened grating surface. Under this hulling cylinder is a concave a, which may also,

like the cylinder itself, be clothed with 1 spikes, or roughened in any suitable manner to accomplish with the cylinder the separating or hulling of the seeds. In advance of the cylinder G, is an inclined feeding board a, furnished with air openings 0, c, &c., through which portions of the dust and small impurities are drawn, as will be hereafter described. Over the cylinder G there is a concave (Z, furnished with bristles, leather or rubber, and in addition thereto, if found necessary, spikes or other rubbing surfaces may be added. The object of this concave however, is to make a partition that, will destroy any thing like a heavy current of air or blast, which the hulling cylinder might generate, and to keep back any thing that might be otherwise carried into the machine by the rotation of the hulling cylinder G. Over the top of this upper concave (Z, there is an air passage f, through which air, and portions of the dust are drawn, by the suction fan, as shown by the arrows.

The seeds having been separated from the heads, and divested of their coating or hulls, by the hulling apparatus just described, or any other one, such as are known and used in hulling clover seed, the straw, heads, chafi', seeds, &c., are deposited on the carrying belt ,or apron g, which passes over and around the pulleys or rollers h It, and are carried up in the chamber C, to a point over, what I denominate, the separating chamber D, where the straw, is delivered onto a second carrying belt 2' that runs around the rollers y, j, and is carried out of the machine at It, while the seeds, chaff, and other small impurities drop down through the space Z, between the carrying beltsthe lighter portions taking the direction of the arrow 1, and the seeds falling upon the di recting board m, and thence through the space a between said board, and a second hinged board 0, against which a spring 10, presses to prevent it from being drawn away from the roll H, by the suction draft, but that will allow it to yield or open to the weight of the seeds upon it. The dust from the openings 0, is drawn into a trunk I, as shown by the arrows, and passes on, to, and through the chamber D, to the suction fan chamber E. And the dust that passed up over the hulling devices, and through the space 7, into the conveying chamber C, also reaches the separating chamber D, through between the ends, or space between the ends of the belts, as shown by the arrow 1, though it may be carried down at the sides by tubes or passages, if preferred. Thus the dust thrown off, so far, is concentrated in the chamber D, from two passages, and is there met by a third suction draft as shown by the arrow 2, which bringswith it any dirt or light impurities from the riddle chamber F, and the three concentrated currents, are then drawn through the space J, and into an opening 9, leading into a trunk K, and thence into the fan case or chamber E, from whence it is driven through a passage or trunk L, out of the building if necessary. The chaff, &c., may and will leave the suction draft to some extent in the chamber or space J, its gravity causing it to fall upon the directing board 7', it will pass out of the machine at s and before the material is drawn into the space J, there may and will be a separation of the heavier from the lighter particles at t, which heavier substances (mainly seeds) will drop upon the hinged board a, and thence through the space 4), onto the riddles F, where the seeds are screened out.

In the patent granted to me on the first day of May, 1860, for an improvement in threshing machines may be found many of the elements of my present invention, but under a different arrangement of parts, and for a different purpose viz: the threshing and cleaning of larger grains, while my present invention contemplates the hulling and cleaning of. clover seed, which requires a difi'erent construction inasmuch as the seeds are lighter, and the dust and impurities much more extensive, and more liable to spread throughout the building. Besides in this invention, I commence the concentration of the dust before the hulling operation really commences, as the mere handling of clover stalks, throws off immense quantities of dust, and I commence gathering the dust, at the very entrance of the stalks at the mouth of the machine.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In combination with a clover hulling and cleaning machine, a suction fan that will concentrate the dust, and other light impurities, within the machine, and then pass them out through a suitable conductor, to any proper depository, substantially as herein described, when the same is accomplished by an arrangement of mechanism, and passages as described for effecting the objects and purposes herein represented.

D. S. WAGENER.

Vitnesses':

A. B. STOUGHTON, E. COHEN. 

